Brown Shoe posts 10% higher sales but athletic segment struggles
Net earnings were $10.031 million versus $3.779 million a year earlier.
In its retail divisions, sales at Famous Footwear, the company's 952-store family footwear chain, were up 4.7% to $302.318 million for the quarter, from $288.735 million for the same 13-week period last year. Same-store sales for the quarter increased 1.9%. Operating earnings fell 3.7% to $15.895 million versus $16.514 million for the year-ago period.
All categories but athletics were positive for the first quarter, with kids' and women's posting double-digit gains. Sales in the women's category were driven by junior sport-fusion, fashion dress and clog styles. Men's non-athletic sales were boosted by sandals and casual footwear. In the athletic category, sales of men's and boys' skate styles were up dramatically, but these were offset by lacklustre sales of other athletic footwear.
In its specialty retail segment, which includes Naturalizer, Via Spiga, FX LaSalle, and Franco Sarto as well as its Shoes.com e-commerce business, sales reached $56.387 million, an increase of 5.9% over last year's $53.260 million. The segment's operating loss decreased to $2.903 million from $3.509 million.
Wholesale sales were up 19.6% to $216.833 million versus $181.288 million last year, primarily resulting from recording a full quarter of revenues from the Bennett brands, which were acquired in April, 2005.
Wholesale operating earnings declined to $14.148 million from $17.504 million a year ago, attributable primarily to the planned lower sales at Naturalizer and in the kids' business.
Gains were realised by the LifeStride and Carlos by Carlos Santana brands as well as in the specialty/private label business. While down versus last year, Naturalizer's performance exceeded expectations, as the brand focused on its new business model.
